The Imaginary Shadow
by Kirihime
Summary: AU. Kagakiri Rin is a boy with the ability Imagine Shadow. This unique ability allows him to copy any ability he sees as long as he knows how it works. This is the story of his time in Academy City and how he makes certain friends. Along with his friend Izumi, the two will see what Academy City has to offer for entertainment. Getting bored is a dangerous thing.
1. Level 4 - Imagine Shadow

"Next!" A male teacher's voice yelled. A boy came forward from the line of students waiting to be evaluated according to their abilities.

This is System Scan. In Academy City, a city comprised of around 2.8 million people (most of them students), this scan evaluated one's power level. Anybody could gain a power by going through the Power Curriculum Program. In this program, esperin and other drugs are ejected into a person along with electrodes that are attached to the neck. These powers are rated by how efficient one is with them. The level's ranged from zero through six. Zero being the espers with no power whatsoever. Five being the highest level achieved. Level six is more or less a legend, considering that nobody has gotten quite that powerful yet. It's more or less achieving the power of God.

This boy approached the man. He wore the uniform of Nagatenjouki Academy. He had short, dark blue hair that fell to his shoulders and didn't look at all natural. Nobody could tell if it was some type of unknown scientific phenomenon or if he just dyed it because he thought it looked cool. He probably wouldn't answer them if they asked, so it didn't matter that much. His blue eyes looked nervous. He had been practicing with his ability on stupid espers who liked to think that they were stronger than everybody else.

The man had brown hair that needed to be combed and brown eyes to match. He wore a track suit with the colors of Nagatenjouki Academy. A clipboard was held in his left hand and in his right hand a pen.

"What is your name?" The man asked the blue-haired esper as he approached him.

"Kagakiri Rin." The boy replied in a calm voice. He wasn't so nervous as to let it affect his speech. It just made him shift his feet occasionally for lack of a better thing to do.

The man scanned the paper and put a red mark next to his name. After reading the details on the boy and his ability, he pointed him in the direction of a couple of teachers at the far side of a field. The boy made his way to the two teaches, one man and one woman who both looked to be around their early twenties.

The two teachers stopped their conversation and watched the boy approach. He stopped a few feet in front of them and swallowed a lump in his throat. One man looked at a clipboard he held in his hand. "Kagakiri Rin?" He asked for confirmation.

"Yes, that's me." Rin said.

"As for your ability…?" The man said, glancing down to the piece of paper. He couldn't find what he was looking for on his paper and looked over to the woman next to him. She shifted through her papers until she reached what she was looking for. She read for a minute and looked up at the man.

"Kagakiri Rin. Level 3. Ability – Imagine Shadow." The woman smiled. "These are the results of the last System Scan." The man nodded in approval.

"Fine then." He looked over to a group of students and motioned for them to come over. The three girls came over to stand in front of them. "We have to use special methods to scan your power level." He said, looking the three girls over. "We will have them use their powers and you will demonstrate them at least at level 3."

Rin nodded in understanding. This seemed simple enough. After all, he was a level 3. There was no reason why he couldn't replicate anybody's power that he understood at least at a level 3 standard. "Let's do this." Rin said, his confidence renewed.

The first girl stepped up. She had dark green hair and green eyes. She wore the female version of the Nagatenjouki uniform. The only differences being in the shirt was slightly adjusted to fit a female's body and a skirt instead of pants. She smiled at Rin as she stepped up. "My name is Kagure. I'm a level 3 electromaster. Nice to meet you."

"Begin!" The man yelled.

The girl produced a large amount of electricity from her head. If Rin had to guess, it would be anywhere from 100,000 volts to 300,000 volts. The electricity cascaded along the ground, tearing it up with no relent. It dug deep furrows in the ground, but didn't come close to anybody nearby. The others who were not participating at the time watched the boy closely.

Rin stared at the girl, watching the high-voltage electricity come from her head and destroy the ground around her. Kagure continued to produce as much as she could. Rin's eyes flashed several colors at once, giving them a multi-colored look. It lasted about two seconds before his eyes returned to normal. "Okay." Rin said.

Kagure stopped and took a few heavy breaths. "Are you done?" She asked in between breaths. After a few more seconds, she managed to catch her breath again.

"Yeah." Rin said. His mind went through many formulas and equations at once, comprehending the new ability. Luckily, Electromaster is one of the abilities he studied; he guessed they would only give him the abilities that he wrote down prior to the scan. His mind also had to keep a trace of his Imagine Shadow. So, he basically had to do twice the amount of calculations when copying another person's ability.

"You may go." The man said in a calm tone. Kagure stepped away as Rin quickly made the calculations in his mind. Black electricity sprayed from his head in multiple directions, tearing up the already torn up ground. Some electricity blasted into the air and came raining down around them. When he finally stopped, the electricity ran along parts of his body before disappearing. He took a few breaths before turning to look at the two teachers.

They both nodded in approval. "Next." The woman said and motioned for another girl to come forward.

A girl with blond hair and blue eyes walked up to stand next to Rin and smiled. "My name is Yukie. I'm a level 3 pyrokinetic. Nice to meet you." At the sign of the teacher, Yukie held out her hand. Using her full calculation ability, a stream of fire ran along her arm. She held up her flaming arm and pillars of fire spread from it, shooting into the air and gaining the attention of many others who were doing their System Scan outside. This girl was a level 3, but seemed close to a level 4's capability. Rin estimated that she would reach level 4 in around 3 months with regular practice. A very impressive esper. He bet that not many pyrokintetics made it to level 3, much less level 4. If he had to face off against a pyrokintetic, he would never underestimate them. Despite him being impressed by the girl's ability, he was doing this for a reason. Rin's eyes flashed multi-colored again and returned to normal.

"Okay." His voice rang clearly in the girl's ears and the flames stopped. The girl backed up a few steps to give him some room. Rin breathed in and out to get some more confidence. Pyrokinesis was also one of the abilities he had studied.

"You may proceed." The man said.

"Very well." Rin held out his hand in front of him. At first, only a small black flame appeared in his hand. The teachers didn't look very impressed. Right when one went to write down something, Rin decided to go all out. With a flick of his wrist and some more calculations, three pillars of the black flame shot from his hand, spreading out in a wave pattern. The flames shot around 20 or 30 feet into the air. The fire raced along his arm, but did not harm his clothing. After a few seconds, the flames dispersed and he turned around to see the shocked faces of the teachers and the three espers. "That okay?" He asked casually. He was used to people reacting to his ability like this.

"Uh… yes!" The female teacher said as she quickly took notes on her clipboard. The male teacher did the same.

"Uh… next!" The male teacher said, looking to the group of girls.

The third girl had black hair that fell to her waist and green eyes. She looked fit. "I'm Yui. Nice to meet you." The girl said with a kind smile that Rin expected from that kind of girl. "I'm a teleporter." With that, she began to teleport around the group.

On instinct, Rin ran calculations through his head and his eyes flashed. "Okay." He said as the girl teleported back in front of him. She backed away to the other two girls. Rin concentrated. Teleporting took more focus and more calculations than pretty much any ability he had used before, so it took him a second to get used to the amount of calculations. (He had studied teleporting for a long time before he was actually able to use the ability.) After a few seconds he disappeared and reappeared a few feet away. He teleported himself around a few times before appearing again in front of the two teachers.

The two teachers had set up the test for teleporters. It involved teleporting a weight a certain distance to a specific spot. It was a rather simple test for such a complicated ability. Doing calculations for the 11th dimension isn't easy.

Rin stepped up to the weight. He looked the length of the area he had to teleport it in. He reached down and gently put his fingers on the weight. With a moment of calculations the weight teleported. It reappeared close to the mark, but not spot on. The two teachers took the score of how well he did and recorded it on their clipboards. Rin held his head. Doing the calculations of multiple abilities in a short period of time really took a toll on him.

Imagine Shadow. The ability that allows a person to copy any ability just by seeing that ability be done. Of course, the user has to have prior knowledge of the calculations and how to ability works to actually use it. The person who uses Imagine Shadow is technically Dual-Skill while copying another's ability. For example, if one were to copy a teleporter's ability. That person would have to keep doing the calculations for Imagine Shadow or they would lose the copied ability. However, one must also be able to handle doing the calculations for the ability they copied without faltering on their Imagine Shadow's calculations. If one loses the copied ability, then they will have to see it in use again to copy it. After the ability is copied, it takes the brain a few seconds to accept the new calculations being processed. One who has a small attention span or low calculation ability would not be able to use Imagine Shadow at all. Or at least, they would only be able to use abilities at a level 1 standard.

The male teacher ran the scan with the results. After some processing the machine gave the results. "Kagakiri Rin. Level 4."

Rin froze. Level 4? He had gained a level? It had been so long since he reached level 3 that he didn't think he would ever go up another level. A wide grin spread across his face. "Level 4? Seriously?" He couldn't believe it.

"Yes. The results have confirmed that you are indeed a level 4." The two teachers smiled at the boy as his grin only grew wider.

"Yes!" He said loud enough to draw the attention of several nearby people. He could feel the teleport ability leave him as he stopped calculations for his Imagine Shadow. Rin turned and ran away from the field. After a few minutes of running, he ran to a small sectioned off part of the field. He found who he was looking for.

A girl with long lavender-colored hair stood with two teachers, both of them female. Another male teacher watched from behind them. Rin arrived just in time to hear the results of the girl's system scan.

"Chitage Izumi. Level 3." One of the female teachers, a woman with long black hair, read. "That's good for you." She smiled at Izumi who smiled in return.

She turned around to see Rin standing there with a grin. "Level 3, huh?" He said as he approached her.

"Rin!" Izumi yelled out as she ran up to him. She had a big grin on her face. "Yup. I didn't go up a level, but it's no big deal. I'm okay with level 3." She looked at him curiously. "So? How did your system scan go?"

A triumphant smile played out on Rin's face. "I'm level 4 now!" He declared proudly.

There was no way to describe the look on Izumi's face besides it being one of shock.

"Level 4!?" She yelled, loud enough to gather everyone's attention within a 500 feet radius. "You went up a level!?" She hung her head. "Now you're above me…" She mumbled.

Rin put a hand on her head for comfort. "Now, now. It's nothing to worry about." His smile seemed to comfort her somewhat and she brought her head back up. "Come on. I'll treat you to something."

The two went to a nice family restaurant. Having been a level 3, Rin was not poor. Especially now that he is a level 4, he will receive more money, so he can afford to spend some extra. He wasn't really short on money before. Attending Nagatenjouki Academy, one of Academy City's best schools, was not cheap.

The pair sat down across from each other at a booth in Joseph's family restaurant. They were both still in uniform. The two placed their orders and started some casual conversation.

"Level 4, huh?" Izumi said dreamily while staring into space.

"Uh… Izumi?" Rin asked, snapping her out of her daydream-like state. "Yeah. I'm surprised myself." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Well, what did you expect?" Izumi asked, putting her hands down on the table as if to emphasize her point. "Out of 2.8 million people, you are the only one with the Imagine Shadow ability. It's only natural that you're destined for something higher. Maybe even level 5…" She trailed off as she stared into space with that dreamy look again. Her purple eyes sparkled as she thought about the possibilities.

"Kuroko!"

The two looked up in surprise as a female voice yelled at somebody. They looked across the restaurant to where everybody else was looking. A middle-school girl with pink hair in twintails was holding her head as she tried to apologize to a brown-haired middle-school girl. The latter had bits of bluish-white electricity coming from her hair.

"Hey." Rin nudged Izumi to get her attention. "Watch." His eyes flashed as he copied the electromaster's ability. He snickered and turned back to the girl sitting across from him.

"What did you do?" Izumi asked with a confused look and a tilt of her head.

Rin snapped is fingers and bluish-white electricity buzzed around them for a second. Izumi just looked at the electricity before she broke out laughing and was quickly joined by Rin. The two laughed a little too loud and when they stopped, they noticed that the entire restaurant was staring at them, including the group of middle-schoolers. They quieted down quickly. Soon, only the group of girls still stared at them.

Rin caught the eye of the electromaster. With a wink, black electricity sparked around his hair. The girl tensed up a little as she made a strange face. The blue-haired esper returned his attention to the girl in front of him once again.

"That was fun."

"Of course. It's always fun copying others abilities isn't it?"

"Naturally." Rin thought for a second. "Maybe I shouldn't mess with people so much though." He said with a laugh.

"Yeah, you should really work on that." Izumi giggled.

Their orders arrived and they started to eat. Rin glanced over to the table with the middle-school girls and noticed that the electromaster kept glancing to him.

The girl with pink hair and twintails answered her phone and stood up. "Onee-sama. I'll see you later! I have Judgment business." With that, she pulled out an armband and stuck it on her arm. In a second, she disappeared.

During that second, a certain level 4's eyes flashed.

"You did it again?" Izumi asked.

"So?" Rin said with a smile. "If I took the time to study up on the calculations for other abilities, then I should have the right to copy them. Otherwise, it would be a waste of time. A glance across the room told him that the electric girl had seen his eyes to. Just to mess with her a little, he touched the spoon on the table, watching as her eyes followed his hand, and teleported it to his other hand. He held it for her to see.

As far as he was concerned, the look on her face was priceless. Even though he was indeed the only person in Academy City with the ability Imagine Shadow, he didn't go around bragging about it or anything. In fact, he had been told by his school that the information was not to leave the school.

After another awkward ten minutes with little conversation and the electric girl's eyes wondering to Rin for the entire time, the girl looked like she was about to get up and go say something to him. Just then, the girl with twintails teleported back into the booth. That gave the girls quite a scare and drew the attention of the restaurant briefly.

"Kuroko!" The brown-haired girl yelled at the teleporter.

"My apologies, Onee-sama. I just couldn't wait to see you again." Kuroko said as she tried to get closer to the girl, who backed away in response.

"Now, now. Shirai. Misaka. Calm down." A girl with long black hair said, putting her hands up.

"Don't worry, Saten." Misaka said. "As long as Kuroko doesn't try anything, we won't have a problem."

"By the way, Uiharu." Saten said to a girl with flowers on her head, sitting next to her. "What color panties are you wearing?" She asked as she pulled up the girl's skirt to get a peek.

"Saten!" Uiharu yelled as she pushed her skirt back down.

Rin watched as the group continued their talking. 'What a strange group.' He thought. He hadn't paid much attention to their conversation, but he did hear what he wanted to. 'So… her name's Misaka, huh? Where have I heard that name before? I'm sure I've never met her.' He returned his attention to his food.

"Everybody, put your hands up!"

Rin stopped. He turned to look at the door. A gunshot fired off and everybody threw their hands into the air. A man with a mask on and a gun held in the air stood at the doorway. 'Seriously? A robbery?' Rin thought as he shook his head.

"Everybody stay where you are and nobody gets hurt!" The man yelled.

Rin stood up. "Wait here, Izumi." The girl didn't look like she had any intention of stopping him. A quick glance to the group of girls confirmed that the electromaster and the teleporter looked ready to fight. The other two girls seemed to be more afraid though. However, they all looked up in surprise as Rin stood up and made his way over to the man. On his way to the man, Rin managed to make eye contact with the electromaster again. He winked and mouthed the words: "Watch this."

"Hey, you!" The man yelled, pointing the gun at Rin as he stopped about six feet from him. "I said stay put! Do you think this is some kind of game?"

"You're annoying." Rin said.

That one statement left the whole restaurant, including the robber, with open mouths.

"Leave." Rin said, pointing at the door.

"Wha-" The man tried to get out. "Who the hell do you think you are!?" His finger reached for the trigger.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rin saw the teleporter begin to move. If he didn't do something, she would soon. So he made his move.

Rin teleported to the side of the man using the copied ability. He grabbed the man's wrist and twisted it, resulting in a snapping sound from the man's wrist. "Argh!" The man yelled as he backed up, dropping the gun. Rin picked it up and shoved it in his pocket to keep it out of the robber's reach. "Damn you!" He yelled as he held his hand out. Flames ran along his arm and made a flame the size of his head in his hand.

"Izumi!" Rin yelled.

"I got it!" Izumi yelled as she ran to stand beside him. The whole restaurant watched as the girl stood next to her friend.

"Just do it for a few seconds. I'd rather not get close to him with those flames on him." Rin looked to his friend. "Can you do it?"

"Of course! Leave it to me!" Izumi said with a smile. He eyes flashed similar to how Rin's do when he uses his Imagine Shadow.

The flames on the man's arm and the one in his hand wavered. "What the…?" He started. The flames began to spread out and go back in rapidly. He tried to take control of them, but the flames just kept moving sporadically. "What the hell is this? Why aren't my calculations working?" He yelled in frustration.

Rin teleported to the side of him and kicked him in the back of the knee with his heel, bringing the man to his knees. With a quick hit to the back of the head, the man fell to the ground unconscious.

"There we go." Rin said, turning to Izumi. "Thanks for the help."

"Anytime." Izumi replied with a smile.

The two turned to the other patrons of the restaurant who had started to cheer for them. Rin felt somewhat embarrassed, but Izumi waved at them as if she was some celebrity showing off.

Rin turned to Kuroko. "Hey." He said, getting her attention.

"Y-yes?" Kuroko said, surprised at the boy's ability level.

"You're a Judgment member, right?" He asked. The girl nodded in response. "Here" He drew the gun from his pocket and tossed it to her. She caught it and looked back to the boy. "You should call Anti-skill to pick this guy up."

With that, Rin turned and started out of the restaurant with Izumi next to him. A voice, however, stopped him.

"Wait!" Misaka yelled after him.

He turned to look at her. "Yes?"

"Are you…?" She thought for a second. She didn't just want to ask him if he was Dual-skill in front of so many people. If she did, even if he was, he probably wouldn't admit it.

"Did you need something?"

The voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Ah…" She trailed off again, not knowing what to say.

Rin sighed. He took out a piece of paper and a pen out of one of his pockets and wrote something down. "Hold out your hands." He said. Misaka did as she was told and he teleported the slip of paper into her hands.

The girl looked at it curiously. "What is it?"

"It's my phone number. You seem like you have something to talk about. If you ever need anybody to talk to, call me." He turned around and waved.

"Wait!" The girl yelled again, stopping the two for the second time. "Who are you?"

"Oh yeah." Rin said thinking. "I haven't introduced myself yet."

Izumi nudged him and whispered into his ear. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Rin said. He looked at Misaka. "I'm Kagakiri Rin." He said with a smile. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Chitage Izumi." Izumi said with a smile.

The two turned and walked out of the door. They walked down the street, making a few turns.

"Why'd you give that girl your phone number?" Izumi asked with an annoyed face.

"I've been thinking." Rin said as he looked at the sky. The sun was still high in the sky. "Besides the System Scan, it's been boring lately. I thought that… maybe… that girl could make things interesting. I just spend most of my time studying abilities so I can copy them to level up. It's boring."

"Hmm…" Izumi thought about that as they continued to walk.

~Back at the restaurant~

Misaka glanced down to the piece of paper with the boy's number on it. She sighed. 'Just who was that guy?'

"Onee-sama!"

Misaka turned around to find an obviously angry Kuroko.

"What's wrong, Kuroko?" She asked.

"Why would you accept the phone number of that b-boy!?" Kuroko said, glaring at the doorway where the boy walked out of. "You are mine, Onee-sama!" Kuroko continued on.

"I didn't accept it." Misaka said, stopping Kuroko. "He just teleported it into my hands. It's not my fault."

"Well… I guess that's okay then." Kuroko said reluctantly.

The four girls paid for their food and walked out. Nobody, to Misaka's relief, brought up the phone number again. As they walked, she glanced to the piece of paper in her hand. With another glance, to confirm that nobody was watching her, she slipped the paper into her pocket.

Misaka ran to stand next to the other girls and joined their conversation. She was interested in who this boy exactly is. She thought that she would call him later, but was hesitant. She made it a point to contact the boy in the near future to meet up with him and ask him some questions.


	2. A day with the girls

Rin yawned as he walked with Izumi down the street. They passed by several arcades and restaurants, but couldn't decide what they wanted to do. They could go shopping for clothes or videogames or just hang out in an arcade, but none of it seemed interesting enough to take up their time. So, they just walked.

"Well, today is boring." Rin said.

That was the first sentence spoken between the two in the last 20 minutes.

It was enough to make Izumi talk.

"Yeah." She said, looking around at the various shops. "Maybe we should just go into an arcade or something."

Rin sighed. "Maybe."

The two turned and walked into one of the arcades, as it was the closest. The inside was kind of plain, but they had plenty of interesting-looking games lined up along the wall and floor. Aisles of games were occupied by various kids, teenagers, and some adults.

They walked along one side and Rin put some money in a machine to get tokens. He gave most of them to Izumi and settled for about 10 for himself. Izumi ran off somewhere to play a game, while Rin just sat down at the nearest fighting game.

He pushed the coin into the machine and grabbed the joystick. He lost after about 20 seconds of the fight.

"Oh, yeah." Rin mumbled to himself. "I forgot… I suck at videogames." He hung his head down in defeat.

A cheering from the other side of the arcade drew his attention and he walked over. A crowd was gathered around one of the machines. Rin pushed through and the sight didn't shock him at all. Izumi sat there, dominating the game with lightning-fast hand movements.

"I also forgot…" Rin mumbled. "Izumi is a master of videogames."

Rin sat there and watched for another ten minutes as Izumi absolutely destroyed the game and stood up. The crowd dispersed after seeing that she was done and went back to their various activities.

"You're as good as ever at videogames." Rin said as he approached the girl.

"You think so?" Izumi said with a small laugh.

It was fun for a while, but after an hour in the arcade, they both grew bored and left. Rin was about to give up on having an interesting day. Even in a city where everybody had supernatural powers, including him, he couldn't find any way to entertain himself or his friend. To him, that was just sad. Sometimes, he wondered if he was a misfit, but he wrote that idea off quickly.

A ringing sound from his pocket drew his attention. He drew out his phone and flipped it open. The caller id was unknown, but he answered anyways.

"Hello?"

"Uh… eh… Kagakiri?" A voice said from the other side.

He easily recognized the voice. "Yes. Is this Misaka?"

"Yes. It is." There was a small pause.

"So… did you need something, Misaka?" Rin asked.

"Oh, yeah. Can we meet somewhere?"

"Sure. Where?" Rin smiled. Finally, something interesting was happening.

Misaka gave him directions to a certain park and he hung up. After explaining the situation to Izumi, the two agreed to meet with her and made their way over to a nice-looking park. A girl with brown hair, Misaka Mikoto, sat on a bench. She looked up as the two approached.

"Hey." Rin said with a wave of his hand.

"Hey." Misaka said. She gestured for the two to sit down on the bench and scooted over.

Rin sat down next to her and Izumi sat on his other side.

"So," Rin started. "What did you want?" He looked over at the electric girl.

"What…" Misaka started. She swallowed her nervousness. "What is your ability?" She asked.

Rin just sat there, staring at her. He turned and looked forward. He thought for a second. He had seen this coming. And… it would probably fix his boredom problem to some extent.

"Imagine Shadow."

"Huh?" Misaka blinked in confusion. She had never heard that name before.

"My ability. The name of it is Imagine Shadow." Rin said.

"What does it do?"

He thought about an easy way to explain it. "As long as I have prior knowledge about the calculations of an ability and how it works, I can copy that ability if I see it in use."

"What? What the hell's with that? I've never heard of that ability before." Misaka shook her head, convinced that he was teasing her.

"That's no surprise." Rin said, staring at her now. "You can't view my profile in the bank unless you have top security authorization. My ability is supposed to be kept a secret, or so my school tells me." He leaned back. "It seems like a waste to let nobody know about my ability."

"But…" Misaka thought back to the scene at the restaurant.

"Your friend helped me back there." Rin said as if he had read her mind by looking at her. "I copied her teleportation ability. That just so happens to be one of the ability's whose calculations I've studied thoroughly. I can use it just as good as any other level 4 teleporter. Same goes for a few other abilities."

"But… how did you stop that pyrokinetic?" She asked.

"Oh, that wasn't me." Rin said. He motioned to his friend sitting next to him. "That was Izumi."

"It was?" Misaka asked. "What's your ability Chitage?"

"AIM Distortion." Izumi answered with a smile.

"AIM Distortion?" Another ability she had never heard of.

"Only about 19 people in Academy City have the ability. It allows me to 'distort' a person's AIM Field and mess with their ability. It's almost like I'm shaking the very foundations of their personal reality."

Thought this was said completely casually, it left Misaka in a shocked state.

"That's.. uh…" She didn't know what to say. "An interesting ability… I guess."

"Right?" Izumi sounded pleased at the 'compliment'.

"Well, then." Rin said. "Is that all you wanted to know?"

"Uh… yeah… I guess so." Misaka said.

"Onee-sama."

The three turned to see Kuroko, Saten, and Uiharu standing a few feet away. It was weird that none of them had heard the group approach.

"Eh? Kuroko? Uiharu and Saten to?" Misaka had a strange look on her face as if the situation she had been caught in was a crime. Or at least much more serious than it was.

Rin stood up with Izumi. "Well then." He said. "I see you have things to do. We'll be on our way." The two turned to walk away.

"Wait." A voice stopped them.

"Yes?" Rin asked the electromaster.

"Why don't you… hang out with us?" She smiled.

"I guess so." Rin said. He looked to Izumi who nodded in agreement. "That's one way to alleviate our boredom."

Misaka turned to the other girls. "It's okay, right?" She didn't particularly want to hang out with the two, but she was still curious about their abilities.

The group of girls nodded slowly.

"I guess. If it's okay with you…" Kuroko said hesitantly.

"They seem nice." Saten said with a smile.

"Of course!" Uiharu said cheerfully.

"Alright then." Rin said, turning back to the group. "Thanks."

The girls introduced themselves.

"Okay." Rin said. "By the way, you can just call me Rin. I'm not one for politeness, at least when it comes to names."

The girls nodded and began their walk out of the park with Rin and Izumi on either side. Well… Rin actually had Uiharu on one side and Saten on the other side. They were both asking him questions about his favourite food and other things about him, which he did his best to answer.

"What's your ability and your level?" Saten asked with a gleam in her eyes.

"Eh…" For the first time since the questions started, Rin hesitated.

"He's a teleporter. Don't you remember, Saten?" Uiharu said.

Saten looked up for a moment before it came to her. "Oh yeah! Your teleporting was pretty impressive; I bet you're at least on Shirai's level!"

Kuroko frowned. "I'll have you know that I've seen all of the teleporters in Academy City in the database, and this man is not one of them."

The girls looked at him curiously.

"Well… I'm not a teleporter…" Rin said with an awkward-sounding laugh.

"Then… how did you…?" Uiharu started.

"Imagine Shadow." Rin said. And with that, he launched into an explanation of his ability. At some point, Izumi also jumped in and explained her own ability.

"That's… impressive…" Those were the only words Uiharu could find to describe his ability.

"It's amazing!" Saten said with a sparkle in her eyes.

"So," Kuroko said, getting their attention. "What abilities have you studied enough to use?"

Rin thought about that for a second. He had studied plenty of abilities, but not all well enough to actually use them.

"Let's see…" He thought. "Teleportation, Pyrokinesis, Electromaster, Telekinesis, Precognition, and Synchrotron." He listed off all the abilities he had studied enough to use. "Hydro Hand and Aero Hand are two I've studied, but I don't think I can adequately use them yet."

The girls just looked at him with astonished faces.

"That's… impressive." Saten said, her mouth hanging open.

"How do you find the time to study all of that?" Uiharu asked.

"I have a lot of free time. As I mentioned before, I'm bored most of the time. Why not spend that time improving my ability? It seems to have worked. I'm a level 4 now."

"Amazing…" Saten said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Would anyone like a demonstration?" Rin asked with a smile. He liked showing off his ability on occasion.

"Yes!" Saten and Uiharu yelled out at the same time.

"I guess so…" Misaka said, curious to see it again.

"Yes…" Kuroko said, looking from Misaka to the blue-haired esper.

Rin stopped walking and the group of girls stopped with him. He pointed across the park to a metal table where two girls were sitting. He had noticed the two espers and that was why he had offered the demonstration. The girls were using telekinesis to stack cups up in a pyramid formation. They both giggled as they made the pyramid go higher by stacking more plastic cups on top.

"Watch my eyes." Rin said, drawing the attention of the girls once again. He was fully aware of the effect on his eyes.

All of the girls stared at his eyes as he watched a girl lift another cup with telekinesis. His eyes flashed multicolored for a few seconds.

"There we go." Rin said, turning to the group.

"That was… beautiful…" Uiharu said dreamily.

"Now then…" Rin said. He looked at Saten and lifted her into the air with telekinesis.

"Woah!" Saten looked around as she lifted a few feet off the ground.

He gently placed her back on her feet.

The girls all smiled.

"Amazing!" Uiharu said. "It's like the ability of everybody's dreams."

"Haha." Rin shrugged. "Not really. It takes a lot of studying and hard work to memorize the calculations for different abilities. If you want my opinion, I think that it's a miracle I reached level 4. If I practice more, there may be that slight chance of reaching level 5. But, who knows? I'm not really aiming for level 5. I'm just trying to have fun."

"That so?" Saten said with a disappointed look. "With an ability like yours that only you have, I think you should always aim for something higher."

"I don't get what you want from me." Rin said with exaggerated hand motions that made the girls giggle. "It's not like level 6 is an option." This was muttered low enough so that the girls didn't hear it.

"What was that?" Misaka asked.

"Nothing." Rin smiled and continued walking, the girls falling in to the sides of him. He smiled. "Some abilities have different looks when I use them, though."

"Like what?" Kuroko asked curiously.

"Such as…" He thought about it. "Misaka." He said, getting the girl's attention. "Make some electricity, will you?"

"Okay…" Misaka said. She held up her hand and bluish-white electricity crackled around it for a few seconds.

The girls observed Rin as his eyes once again flashed multi-colored. "Okay." He said and took a deep breath, going through the calculations for his new ability.

Similar to Misaka, Rin held out his hands for the girls to see. Black electricity crackled around his hand. He made some more to let the girls get an adequate look at it, before he stopped.

"I think that's where they got the name for my ability from." Rin said, slowing his steps. "Electromaster was the first ability I ever copied. So, I guess you can say I'm the best with it."

"So," Misaka said, an arrogant smile on her face. "Do you think you're better than me?"

"Who knows?" Rin said with an equally arrogant smile. "Maybe I am."

"Then, can you do this?" She asked, taking an arcade coin out of her pocket.

"A coin?" Rin asked, looking at the girl curiously.

The group stopped walking to watch Misaka.

Misaka held the coin up towards the sky. Electricity raced along her arm. With a flick of her thumb, she launched that small piece of metal. The coin literally launched so quickly and with so much power that a trial of plasma was briefly visible. Something similar to a sonic boom could be heard and drew the attention of the group of girls who had been using telekinesis.

"Ah." Rin said. He didn't look surprised at all. "Now I know where I heard your name from. You're the third-ranked level 5, Misaka Mikoto, the Railgun." He nodded. "Yes, I've studied up on your ability. You take a small coin and use electricity to supercharge it, then launch it at three times the speed of sound."

"So, think you can handle it?"

"If you told me the calculations you use, then I'm confident I can do it."

Thirty minutes later, the girls sat on a bench except for Misaka, who was finishing explaining the calculations to Rin, who nodded the whole time.

"Okay, I think I've got it." Rin said.

Misaka reached into her skirt pocket and took out an arcade coin. She gave it to Rin.

"Good luck." She said with a smile.

The girls all stood up and walked over to the side of Rin, where Misaka now stood.

Rin concentrated. He went through the calculations a few times in his head to make sure he had them right. Black electricity raced along his arm. "Here goes nothing…" He muttered. He flicked his thumb expecting the coin to launch at around the speed of sound.

The coin flew about ten feet before it hit the ground, bouncing a few times before it sat still.

"…" This was one outcome Rin hadn't accounted for. He turned to the girls who all stared at him with shocked gazes. "Well... I'm not all-powerful, you know…" He sighed.

The girls all giggled as the boy went and picked up the coin off the ground. He held it out to Misaka.

"You can keep it." Misaka said with a smile. "Keep practicing."

"Right." Rin said with a smile.

"He's amazing when he wants to be." Izumi said with a gentle smile. "He's just too lazy to practice." The girls giggled.

"Whatever." Rin said. "Let's go."

The group continued down and out of the park. They made their way into the 6th school district and found a nice-looking café to eat at. They took a booth that could fit three people on each side. Kuroko sat on one side, with Misaka next to her, and Saten at the end where one would get out. On the opposite side of the booth, Izumi sat against the wall, Rin was in the middle, and Uiharu was on the other end.

They all put in their orders and after a few minutes, a blond waitress came (clearly a foreigner) and placed the drinks on the table. Everybody slowly took a sip from their respective glasses.

"So," Kuroko said, breaking an awkward silence. "What, exactly, do you use your power for?"

That question drew all eyes to the one boy at the table.

"Eh…" He hesitated. "As immature as it may seem, I pretty much use it for our entertainment." He said, gesturing to Izumi.

"Eh? Really?" Misaka looked surprised.

"Is it that surprising? I told you that we're bored a lot. Copying another person's ability is one of our favourite past times. I've been doing it ever since I went through the Power Curriculum Program." He smiled.

"It's a nice form of entertainment, even if it can be a bit mean." Izumi said with a smile.

"Anyways." Rin said, drawing their attention. "Let's not think about that. Let's… have fun."


End file.
